Mounir Baatour

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Mounir Baatour
منير بعتور
Born1970 (age 50–51)
Tunisia
NationalityTunisian
OccupationLawyer
Known forLGBT advocacy, first openly gay presidential candidate in the Arab world

Mounir Baatour (Arabic: منير بعتور‎, born 1970) is a Tunisian lawyer and LGBT activist. He is the leader of the Tunisian Liberal Party, and was the first openly gay presidential candidate in the Arab world.[1]

LGBT activism and presidential campaign[]

Baatour was arrested in 2013 and jailed for 3 months for sodomy, for charges that he always denied.[2][3] In 2015 Baatour co-founded Association Shams, a LGBT rights association focused on the decriminalisation of homosexuality.[4] He is currently president of the association.[5] In 2018, together with Alice Nkom, Baatour received the Idaho France prize for freedom, for his fight against homophobia.[6]

On 8 August 2019, Baatour announced his participation to the Tunisian presidential election. Following this announcement, an estimated 650 articles from 120 different countries were written about him, and Baatour built a campaign team with 300 local activists.[7] His political program included the repeal of Article 23, which outlaws homosexuality, from the Tunisian criminal code, as well as gender equality and the protection of the rights of minorities.[8] However, despite collecting nearly double the 10,000 signatures required for his nomination eligibility, the election authority rejected his candidacy without providing serious reasons.[9]

After receiving death threats from Islamists, Baatour fled to France in January 2020, where he was accepted as a political refugee.[10]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Cordall, Simonn (2019-07-16). "Meet the man hoping to become the Muslim world's first openly gay president". The Independent. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  2. ^ "L'avocat Mounir Baatour, ouvertement homosexuel, se présente à la présidentielle tunisienne, une première dans le monde arabe". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2019-08-08. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  3. ^ "In first for Arab world, openly gay candidate runs for Tunisia's presidency". France 24. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  4. ^ "Tout savoir sur Mounir Baatour, premier candidat gay à la présidentielle tunisienne". CNEWS (in French). 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  5. ^ Ahmado, Nisan (2019-08-14). "Tunisia's First Gay Presidential Candidate Faces Threats From Extremists | Voice of America - English". www.voanews.com. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  6. ^ Olivier, Mathieu (2018-05-17). "Droits des LGBTI : la Camerounaise Alice Nkom et le Tunisien Mounir Baatour distingués à Paris – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  7. ^ Chivers, Aidan (2020-03-23). "Meet Mounir Baatour: Tunisia's Most Prominent LGBT Rights Advocate". The Advocate. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  8. ^ Kersten, Knipp (2019-07-07). "Tunisian LGBT rights advocate 'sticking with' bid for presidency | DW | 07.07.2019". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  9. ^ Colin, Dominique (2020). "La foi est-elle encore possible?". Études. Avril (4): 79. doi:10.3917/etu.4270.0079. ISSN 0014-1941.
  10. ^ Greenhalgh, Hugo (2020-01-09). "Prominent Tunisian LGBT+ activist flees death threats". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
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